I previously posted a little about my situation, but now I feel that I am being targeted for demotion or termination because I objected to the way our new office manager handled a sexual harassment complaint.
About a week and a half ago a coworker approach me to complain about alleged sexual harassment. I was the supervisor on duty. She told me I could contact our Executive Director for guidance, but she wanted to speak with our Program Director herself. This was on a Thursday. I began to form a timeline of events and talked to the ED on Friday afternoon. I also began researching sexual harassment and as we have no protocol in place to deal with this, I was forming some basic ideas of what actions we could take. As the PD had not been to work and the person complaining had not had an opportunity to talk to her, I encouraged her to call her before the ED came to the office Monday.
When she called our PD she was told "of course, I am the last to know as usual" and began to berate the woman for telling me and not her (even though she had not been at work for four days by now)
On Monday when I arrived at work I was meet by the Grievance Officer who told me she was "Po'd"(I abbreviated) because I didn't tell her right away. I told her that the person making the complaint had not requested to meet with the Grievance Officer and I had respected her wishes not to include anyone other than the people she had asked for. I was told she didn't care what the person wanted, it was my obligation to tell her what is going on(even though she is not stationed at our office and there is no policy that says we are to contact her). She then went into the office with the woman making the complaint.
Later that person told me that the atmosphere in the meeting was hostile. She said she was told "let me calm down, I am so PO'd at XXXX for not telling me. This whole thing was messed up from the start" The woman was afraid she had gotten me in trouble, so she said she felt she should withdraw her complaint because she didn't want to get me in trouble. The GO tells her - "That is probably a good idea since this was not handled right from the start" and the meeting ended.
When I found out how they treated her I asked to speak with the ED about this and we meet with the GO. I had prepared a summary of why I felt they had responded improperly to the complaint. Basically the ED said he did not want to be handcuffed by his own protocol and the GO said I had better not cross her.
After this the PD was demoted. As she was going into her office the GO showed her the information I prepared about the sexual harassment complaint. She came out of her office and berated me for several minutes about being a snake and I would get what was coming to me. I stayed silent. She handed her keys to the GO and said she would not return unless they got rid of me.
Now on an almost daily basis the GO who is our new Office Manager has been telling staff that she is trying to get me fired. She told one coworker, 'we just need to catch XXXX making 2 mistakes and then I can fire him' Well this weekend the old PD returned to work. Staff has informed me that she overheard the ED, and GO basically saying I was doing a terrible job and it sounded to her that they are going to demote me and move me to another location, or terminate my employment.
I have worked for the non profit for almost 10 years with a spotless record and in the matter of a week and a half am suddenly poison to have around. I knew what they were up to, but as long as they did not succeed, I chose to remain silent.
If I am terminated or demoted as a result of this, I plan on contacting the EEOC to file a retaliation complaint.
My question is - Should I inform my employer of this and give them a chance to fix it, or should I let it come as a surprise?
Thanks for any answer.
About a week and a half ago a coworker approach me to complain about alleged sexual harassment. I was the supervisor on duty. She told me I could contact our Executive Director for guidance, but she wanted to speak with our Program Director herself. This was on a Thursday. I began to form a timeline of events and talked to the ED on Friday afternoon. I also began researching sexual harassment and as we have no protocol in place to deal with this, I was forming some basic ideas of what actions we could take. As the PD had not been to work and the person complaining had not had an opportunity to talk to her, I encouraged her to call her before the ED came to the office Monday.
When she called our PD she was told "of course, I am the last to know as usual" and began to berate the woman for telling me and not her (even though she had not been at work for four days by now)
On Monday when I arrived at work I was meet by the Grievance Officer who told me she was "Po'd"(I abbreviated) because I didn't tell her right away. I told her that the person making the complaint had not requested to meet with the Grievance Officer and I had respected her wishes not to include anyone other than the people she had asked for. I was told she didn't care what the person wanted, it was my obligation to tell her what is going on(even though she is not stationed at our office and there is no policy that says we are to contact her). She then went into the office with the woman making the complaint.
Later that person told me that the atmosphere in the meeting was hostile. She said she was told "let me calm down, I am so PO'd at XXXX for not telling me. This whole thing was messed up from the start" The woman was afraid she had gotten me in trouble, so she said she felt she should withdraw her complaint because she didn't want to get me in trouble. The GO tells her - "That is probably a good idea since this was not handled right from the start" and the meeting ended.
When I found out how they treated her I asked to speak with the ED about this and we meet with the GO. I had prepared a summary of why I felt they had responded improperly to the complaint. Basically the ED said he did not want to be handcuffed by his own protocol and the GO said I had better not cross her.
After this the PD was demoted. As she was going into her office the GO showed her the information I prepared about the sexual harassment complaint. She came out of her office and berated me for several minutes about being a snake and I would get what was coming to me. I stayed silent. She handed her keys to the GO and said she would not return unless they got rid of me.
Now on an almost daily basis the GO who is our new Office Manager has been telling staff that she is trying to get me fired. She told one coworker, 'we just need to catch XXXX making 2 mistakes and then I can fire him' Well this weekend the old PD returned to work. Staff has informed me that she overheard the ED, and GO basically saying I was doing a terrible job and it sounded to her that they are going to demote me and move me to another location, or terminate my employment.
I have worked for the non profit for almost 10 years with a spotless record and in the matter of a week and a half am suddenly poison to have around. I knew what they were up to, but as long as they did not succeed, I chose to remain silent.
If I am terminated or demoted as a result of this, I plan on contacting the EEOC to file a retaliation complaint.
My question is - Should I inform my employer of this and give them a chance to fix it, or should I let it come as a surprise?
Thanks for any answer.
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